REEVES' H PHEASANT. I'J'J 



digioiisly ra])i(l and strai'o-lit^ and he will travel thirty miles 

 ou end, whicli, of course, is an objectioiialile jjractice, excejit 

 in such extensive forest grounds as the higliLinds of ScDtland 

 present. These pheasants travel in troups nf fifteen or twi-uty, 

 and present a grand and liewildering effect when they rise in 

 such a company. Any attempt to walk up to them in lirush 

 covert is utterly hopeless, for they ai'e I'xceedingiy vigilant 

 and go straight off like a dart, not more than six feet from 

 the ground, far out of reach.'" 



Mr. J. ilayes, head-keejier to the late Maharajah Dhuleep 

 Sing, writing from Elved(.)n, in 1877, stated: "I have hi-ed 

 the Keeves's j^heasant for the last five (u- six years, rearing 

 them by hand, and have had [U'etty good hick with them the 

 last two years, having succeeded in rearing about sixty in the 

 two seasons; but I find they are much healthier turned (jut 

 than when penned up. 'J'he soil here is dry and sandy, which 

 seems to suit tlieni very well. Two years ago 1 penned 

 u)") fifty vei-\' fine young birds, aljout lialf-grown ; Ijut they 

 swelled very nnicli about the head, and went (/ompletely blind, 

 and about twenty of them died, but th(jse that we have turned 

 out seem to be in very good health and condition. As regards 

 hybridizing, 1 know they will do so, as three years ago a hen 

 liei'ves escajied fr(jni the |ieiis, bred with a c(jiumon plieasant, 

 and brought up tlvc very line young birds, much larger than 

 the common pheasant, and id licantiful plumage." 



Many specimens of hybrid or cross-bred Eeeves have been 

 I'cared in confinement. That, figured on the same ])late with 

 the Bohemian pheasant was the offspring of a male IJeeves 

 with a Bohemian hen; it [inrtonk, as may be noticed, of the 

 characters of both species, the tail l)eing ol: intei'mediate 

 length, the white cowl, cheek patch, a.n.l neck ring of the 

 b'eeves being retained, Init the splendid golden yellow of the 

 body being almost entirely wanting. Hybrids between a 

 Beeves hen and a Sa-mmerring cock have been bred by i\lr. 

 Jamrach. The male birds apjieared precisely intermediate 

 between the two r>areuts, having the strongly barred tad of 



